Why does everyone think Olaf will fall off so much next year? There are a lot of big names from other schools graduating this year too. I also don’t know that I would say scoring 33 points is falling off when they scored 23, 32, 34 the last few years. Looking for actual conversation and facts not made stats about obese coaches or hypothetical transfers.
Why does everyone think Olaf will fall off so much next year? There are a lot of big names from other schools graduating this year too. I also don’t know that I would say scoring 33 points is falling off when they scored 23, 32, 34 the last few years. Looking for actual conversation and facts not made stats about obese coaches or hypothetical transfers.
Well, if you look at the results, their top 4 and 5 of their top 7 are graduating. Mathematically, that will have an impact. Like I said before, they'll still probably win conference pretty easily with 50ish points. It just doesn't look like they project to have 15 of so in the top 25 anymore.
Second, more pressing issue will be the conferences representation at nationals. St. Olaf does not have a clear low stick anymore so that will hurt them and if you look at some of the teams behind them it could be tough. River Falls graduates 1 scorer and has a ton of young depth. Eau Claire was right behind Olaf and has more returners. MSOE keeps their top 3 and has depth. St. Norberts had a record performance for them and they return their whole team so they could be a surprise push.
Just taking out the low stick of Turlington and Olaf would have been 6th at regions and might not have made nationals. Returners for next year and River Falls already is well past them. The competitive landscape looks tough in the North and MIAC as a whole will need to improve.
I'd love the Gusties to be better than you project them to be but you tout them running 90+ miles over the summer, and their 5th man ran 27:30 at conference? That's an oof. Remarkable, even.
Goated argument with "If Carleton simply brings in the bestest class 4ever, then Carleton will be like, really really good".
STUPID Olaf recruits meanwhile have been TRICKED for 5 years into coming to the school with the best running program by far and one of only 3 nationally academically competitive schools in the conference (which Olaf is solidly 3rd in behind Carleton and Mac by the way)
It’s also fair to think Olaf only ran their top seven and some of those 8-11 guys are reasonably competitive with a River Falls. They ran great, but let’s not forget the Oles had a good number of athletes ahead of their full group at Blugold. So it’s plausible they won’t lose to River Falls next year. Also, something to think about is the fact that Oles usually suck as freshman and improve substantially as upperclassmen. Or even this year I had never heard of some guys that ran in their top seven at different points. Lacctic has scores for the MIAC without seniors as Olaf 50, Mac 58, St. John’s 83, Carleton 109, and the Gusties 126. So this will definitely be the most wide open the meet had been since the mid 2000’s. Every coach will need to step up their game because so many teams are in the mix.
Makes me wonder if they had their 800 men focus more on XC than mid-November time trials some of them could contribute in a way like Ihrke, Brauer, Lyness, or even Tyler Smith.
Makes me wonder if they had their 800 men focus more on XC than mid-November time trials some of them could contribute in a way like Ihrke, Brauer, Lyness, or even Tyler Smith.
That's a good point. St Olaf's 800m record holder was an individual qualifier for nationals his senior year.
The GOAT of St. John's went to Lourdes. A good Catholic boy.
I’m definitely starting a second no Olaf coach talk Miac thread next year. I’m expecting it to be closer with Olaf closer to the 50s at conf meet. They still look like the heavy favorite but eventually the dominance will fade.
Macalester’s new coach is making top 5 an expectation and some year they’ll pop.
New St. John’s coach seems to getting his feat set.
Andrew Rock seems to have hit his stride with Track so I’m assuming since taking over as director for XC as well, he’ll continue to add some blowfish around hootie
Facts I'll second that! Lets talk about the runners! They're the ones who get it done, not the coaches! Y'all worry too much about coaches and training and not enough about yourselves!! Stop blaming everyone else, and start eating, sleeping, and running correct efforts, your coach can't do that for you! Have some DAWG!!
Does anyone watching know what happened to Hannah Preisser? Unfortunate that her and Vukovics didn't have great days, probably would've been 7th if they had performed as normal.
Oh my, bati in second again. Wow. He never could get it done
First off, hate this comment fr, probably from some random who has never touched a sub 3 K in their life, much less run 8 of them consecutively. Bati has wound up on the losing end of two of the greatest NCAA D3 races I have seen. Truly a great competitor. One of one, he is poised for a great post college career, and I have no doubt he will continue to play the long game as beautifully as he has the past multiple years. He understands the game.
Alright, now for some comentary as I finish my train ride from MSP to La Crosse. Man, what a wild nationals. 2 top 15 All Americans from the MIAC is pretty awesome to see. Shout out to Torty, who by all measures is one of the most consistent top performers in the Country and just continues to get better year after year. Absolutely love to see it. Shout out to Mo as well, as I gave him his flowers above. Finally, another great outperformace of the the ranking by the Oles, who have done this the past 5 years with Power as their coach. I was astounded by how they ran today, and honestly they blew through my expectations of what I thought they would do. I was more expecting a 20-25th place from them, but time and time again, Power shows that he knows how to properly peak the fellas for the Big Dance. xemptyzAlright, now for some of the things I took away from this meet at first glance: 1. Holy Balls from Deaver and Gael, out in the top 50 and pretty much stayed there the whole time. Making an Unc proud of that, they rolled with the punches, and Gael had a very solid place. I feel for Deaver, but I love the courage, and it shows really how far they have came in their careers. The learning process of this sport is truly beautiful, and I love the heart that they showed out there. 2. Gabe finished his career with a very solid performance, I think he has a lot of potential for this spring when he gets down to his distance of choice. 80s-90s is honestly where I would have expected him to fall, and I think that like a lot of milers, XC can just get pretty long for him. He had a very good season though and he continues to make the MIAC a better conference, and for that I shout him out. A great competitor, its what makes the sport worth it. 3. The inexperience of first timers showed today. The newcomers did not get out as hot as they needed to, and once again I was proven right. It is hard, and intimidating to try to run a sub 2:50 first K and then bounce back, but that is how Nats goes. I look forward to seeing how they returners of the conference, Cole, Bucky (Bjork), and C-Gundy do next year. You have to learn something in these situations, and a lot of times, the risk of failure is worth it for the reward, especially at the national level. There are some shoes to fill in the MIAC next year, and if the youngins learn anything from their first nats bid, it should be that they were good enough to be there and to run like youre going to be an All American. Time and time again, I think it proves to be true that it is difficult to move up in a national meet. Not impossible, but assume that you are the average good D3 runner. In Conclusion, what a great national meet to watch. It has been a while since I have done so. I'll probably post one more time, but congrats to those who competed today. I hope you enjoyed what I think to be one of the most fun races of the year. Love y'all and love the MIAC. Peace.
XC is over and nobody cares how teams did today, because the first track meet of the year is less than two weeks away.Here are my event by event predictions. A disclaimer that I don't know of any good freshmen, but I bet some...
Death, taxes and the Oles in the top 15 at nationals. Makes it 4 straight top 15 finishes for them, consistently outperforming their ranking. Seems this Power fella really knows how to get his guys peaked for when it matters
Loling at Jake Brown, Ole alum/Olympian, trolling the Ole coach by reminding them when they used to compete for national titles and not be satisfied with finishing inside the second half. Even better the reposted it on the team IG.
Congrats to Tyler Edwards on both the comeback season and also winning the MIAC Elite 22 academic award. Very surprising nobody finishing ahead of him had a higher GPA, even the illustrious Oles and the Carls who were so conscientious about missing class they only raced three times this year.
For context, Jake Brown wrote, "A little nostalgic today seeing the ncaa xc champs content for the xc days. Thanks boys for the memories @stolafmxctf #bigo"
You're right, wow!! What a troll of Power!!!!! He sure trolled him!!!!!!
The same Oles and carls who 1. Were the only MIAC teams to make Nats and 2. The one and two teams on the men’s and women’s sides. Plus Edwards is Econ major
The same Oles and carls who 1. Were the only MIAC teams to make Nats and 2. The one and two teams on the men’s and women’s sides. Plus Edwards is Econ major